Being effective in your job doesn’t always mean that you need to be there. In fact, many would argue that their productivity increases drastically when they are given the flexibility to work wherever they want as long as they can stay connected. If that means staying off of a plane for a business trip, even better because it also saves the company money.

Enter video conferencing, the tool that enables users to be part of the discussion without being there. But what does “there” really mean in today’s world? With mobile technologies, including video, transforming how and where we work, the concept of “there” is really anywhere you want it to be. “There” can be a traditional office that is now equipped with video technologies that enable collaboration with others across the world without having to travel in order to conduct business. It can also be working remotely and still being part of your business community with mobile video and other applications that allow users to work at home, at a coffee shop or anywhere they like.

The move to stay connected at anytime from anywhere has been engaged by many organizations including the U.S. Federal Government. To help agency’s ensure productivity while cutting travel costs the House of Representatives introduced a bill that would allow absent Congress members to vote via video conferencing. The bill allows members to cast votes remotely over video and be treated as if they were present in person at meetings.

Government members are also extending this sentiment beyond the walls of Congress as Representative Michael Fitzpatrick also introduced a new bill — H.R. 2643, the Stay In Place, Cut the Waste Act of 2013 — to review agencies’ efforts to reduce travel spending and develop a plan to cut travel expenses by 50 percent through the use of video conferencing technologies.

While employee work flexibility and increased job satisfaction are strong reasons to consider teleworking solutions, the latest report from the Telework Research Network shows that there are even more compelling reasons to support teleworking at your business.

Can you imagine a world where teleworking was the norm? In their U.S. report, the research organization identifies potential national savings of over $700 BILLION a year if those with compatible jobs and a desire to work from home did so just half the time. The Telework Research Network paints a pretty picture with these potential savings:

A typical business would save $11,000 per person per year

The telecommuters would save between $2,000 and $7,000 a year

The oil savings would equate to over 37% of our Persian Gulf imports

The greenhouse gas reduction would be the equivalent of taking the entire New York State workforce permanently off the road.

You don’t need to be a finance person to see that this is one bandwagon businesses need to jump onto!

Don’t know where to start? It’s easy, and Cisco’s here to help.

The Cisco OfficeExtend 600 solution helps businesses enable teleworkers by extending wireless and wired access to the corporate network to the workers home or remote office locations. The OfficeExtend solution provides secure access to the corporate network to deliver the same comprehensive access to business services that workers would get in main business office. Additionally, a corporate wired or wireless Cisco IP phone can be added to improve collaboration for teleworkers.

In addition, the teleworker can also setup personal wireless or wired access for personal use in their home or remote office. The data traffic from the personal access is segmented and does not have access to the corporate network. This give the worker the flexibility to have a single Access Point in the home for work related access as well as personal networking activities while knowing that their corporate data traffic is fully secured.

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